Searching For Old Hunting Buddies
by xselene411x
Summary: Jack's been a hunter ever since his family died. But just four year after he started hunting, he himself was dragged to the depths of hell. After being resurrected twenty years later, he begins searching for his old hunting buddies, Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel. Even though he's afraid of how they will react to seeing him, he wants nothing more than to see his friends again.
1. Prologue

_"Hiccup... Stop... Please... Snap out of it!"_

_Jack choked out the words, trying to breath as his best friend clutched his throat. Hiccup's eyes were coal black and he had the coldest smile ever on his face. Jack was scared. For the first time in a long time, Jack was really really scared. He couldn't think. All he could do was reached into his pocket and pull out a packet of table salt, throwing it, unopened, in Hiccup's face._

_'Great idea Jack. Just great. Most you probably did was just piss him off."_

_The possessed brunette responded with a growl, tightening his grip on Jack's throat. Jack fought for air and struggled, kicking Hiccup and clawing at his hands. Jack looked at Hiccup, caught a sickening grin and then-_

_SPLASH_

_Jack's eyes widened as he hit the water. He shouted, "Hiccup! Please snap out of it! I-I can't-" Before he could finish he started sinking. Down and down and down. He thrashed in the water, trying hard to get to the surface. He cursed in his head. He should've taken the time to learn how to swim. He tried to scream when he couldn't hold his breath any longer, sucking in the water. He could feel his body slowing down, causing him to panic. _

_'No... No no no! I-I can't die here! I can't! I...'_

_His struggle slowed even more as he started to realize that he wasn't going to make it. Unless some sort of miracle happened, he was a goner._

_Hiccup stood on the surface, gazing down into the water below. Suddenly he realized what he was doing, and he used all his will to fight the demon. The black left his eyes, and his face took on a look of horror, "JACK!" He screamed out as he jumped into the water, diving down and down until he finally grabbed Jack's arm, pulling him to the surface. He coughed and pushed his friend up onto the wooden pier, climbing up himself, and immediately started chest compressions._

_"Stay with me Jack please don't die!" He said frantically as he tried to get the brunette to breath. Five compressions, two breaths, five compressions, two breaths. He thanked god that he'd learned CPR, "Jack come on don't die on me!" He near shouted as he weakly started the first of five compressions._

_But he knew he was too late. He leaned over, taking Jack's body up into his arms and cradling him. He let out a strangled cry of anguish as he held his best friend close and rocked back and forth. He sobbed and clutched Jack close, feeling horrible. He'd just killed his best friend. What would the others think? Would they hate him? Was the demon that possessed him still around? Thoughts raced through the boy's head. Someone who had heard Hiccup's cry was racing over, and they tried to pull Hiccup from Jack when they got there. Hiccup struggled and clung to his friend, "LET ME GO! HE'S MY BEST FRIEND DAMMIT! LET ME GO!"_

Jack jolted as he woke from his nightmare. He blinked and started crying. He always had the same nightmare. And it always made him break down. He cried and sobbed, hugging his knees as he sat there on the bed of the motel. He hated everything about the nightmare. The feeling he got after, the panic he felt, and the worst part.

The fact that he never remembered any of it.


	2. Chapter 1

Jack sighed as he checked out of the motel. He went outside and walked to his car, tossing his bags in the trunk and getting into the driver's side. He sat there silently for a while, thinking about the nightmare and trying to remember it.

After a few minutes of not being able to remember, Jack started the car and began driving, following a map Bunny had given him. He was looking for the location of his friends, whom he hadn't seen in twenty years. _Twenty years... I was dead twenty years... All of them are grown up by now... How will they react..? Will they be afraid of me..? _Jack sighed and kept driving. He was scared to know what the others would think of him being resurrected.

"Calm down Jack... You're overreacting..." He muttered to himself as he drove. He looked at the map and took a left turn. He'd been traveling for three days on his way to the location Bunny gave him. It was Merida's house. _Won't be long now... Should be right down this road... _Suddenly Jack's eyes widened, "Agh... No... Not now..." He said through gritted teeth. His head felt like it was splitting in two and his breathing was getting heavy. He knew this feeling all too well. He was having a vision. Quickly Jack pulled over and put the car in park, shaking and clutching his head as the vision began.

_Merida was in the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She whirled around, feeling like she was being watched, "'Ello?" She called, placing the glass on the counter, "Someone 'ere?"_

_Just as she said that, the kitchen drawers flew open, and everything went flying. The knives hovered in the air, pointing at Merida. The girl's eyes grew wide, "P-poltergeist?! 'Ere?!" She said frantically._

_She didn't get another chance to say anything because the knives flew straight at her, piercing and cutting her until her breathing stopped._

Jack gasped and sat there shocked, taking a moment to register what he saw. He didn't have time. He had to get to Merida's house. He grabbed the directions and jumped out of the car, dashing down the street.

"Red house, third on left. Red house, third on left. Come on come on... There!" Jack finally spotted the house and burst through the door, just as the knives were about to hit Merida. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her out of the house.

Merida yelped in surprise as she was dragged out of the house. She didn't know who it was that saved her but she immediately thanked them, "T-thank you. I don' know what I would do if-" That's when she saw who it was. The same brown hair, dark brown eyes, light freckles, looking like he did twenty years ago. She stood there in shock before finally reacting.

"J-Jack..?"

Jack stared at her, expecting her to draw her bow on him or something. He nodded a bit, "Yeah... Hi Merida..." He responded looking up at the girl. She looked different. Definitely older. She had a scar on the bridge of her nose now, and there was a small streak of grey in her bright orange hair. Jack couldn't help but feel sad. He looked down at the ground, expecting some sort of rejection.

What he got instead was Merida pulling him into a tight hug. She hugged him tight and didn't let go, not once, "I-I thought... And you... I'm so glad you're alive..." She said. Jack's couldn't speak. He could feel tears filling in his eyes, and he knew that if he closed them, the tears would fall. He didn't care though. He shut his eyes tight and wrapped his arm around Merida, tightly hugging her back.

A few moments later the two were sitting across from one another in a nearby restaurant. Jack had a cup of hot chocolate in his hands, and Merida had a cup of coffee. Jack stared into his cup of coffee, "So... You guys really can't find him..?" He asked.

Merida shook her head, "Ten years after you... You know... He up and left without a word. Astrid is worried sick about him." The girl said. Seeing Jack looking scared and worried about his friend made her go into protective mode, a mode she acquired when Rapunzel's daughter was born, "Hey don't worry. We'll find him. I promise."

Jack looked up at Merida and smiled nodding. Something strange happened then. Something that had never happened before and made him scared. He started breathing heavily again and held his head. Merida had experience with this from hunting with Jack before. She grabbed his shoulders, "Jack it's okay." She said, then noticed something was wrong, "Jack..? Why d'ya look so scared lad?"

Jack could barely get the words from his mouth. His head felt like it was being smashed to bits, "M-Merida... T-this is the second... I-I've had today..."

Merida's eyes widened. Normally it was just once in a while. Two in one day? That had never happened. Merida could see why Jack was scared, "It's okay lad don' be scared..."

Jack nearly couldn't stop himself from crying out. His head hurt twice as much as normal. But before long he lost sight of all reality and was plunged into the vision.


	3. Chapter 2

_Hiccup trudged through the forest, cut up and bruised, searching for hours on end. He wasn't going to stop for anything or anyone. No matter what he was going to finish what his best friend had started, "I promise Jack... I kill that demon that killed your family... No matter what..." He said to himself, a determined look on his face. _

_He soon stepped out of the forest next to a road that lead to a small town. Hiccup looked at the sign, "Not to far now..." The sign said 'Apple Creek Village 100 miles'._

Jack gasped coming out of the vision. Even though it was short, it was very important to Jack. He now knew Hiccup was okay and where he was. That is if the vision was taking place now. Merida looked at him and said, "Are ye okay lad? What did ye see?"

Jack swallowed and took a moment to answer, "I saw... I saw Hiccup... He was walking... And he was walking to Apple Creek Village... W-where is that located Merida..?"

Merida thought about it for a moment, "It's halfway across the country... By the time we get there he may have left." She said.

"Well at least we know he's okay..." Jack said sounding relieved, "And it's worth a shot going there and trying to meet up with him... First things first though, let's take care of that poltergeist in your house." He said with a grin.

Jack and Merida walked back to the boy's car after they left the restaurant. Jack opened the trunk just as Merida asked, "I probably should've asked this earlier, but how did ye get a car?"

Jack laughed a little, "Let's just say it's not mine." Merida laughed and shook her head as she watched the sixteen year old open a briefcase and pull out a big thing of salt, bunches of boxes of matches, and a small piece of iron, "Alright let's see... Salt and iron will weaken it... If we can find remains or the object it haunts we can salt and burn it..." He said as he pulled out all of the items. Looking inside Merida saw jars of different herbs and chemicals. Jack picked up some of the jars, "Then theres the Angelica Root and such... Don't know if I have all the ingredients for the mixture though..."

Merida couldn't help but laugh a little. Jack was still his usual self. Always on the ball with whatever case he had. Any materials or weapons he needed he had in his briefcase. She watched him take out several squares of cloth and several jars of different things, turning to her and asking, "How many floors are in your house?"

"There's two floors and the basement." She answered. Jack nodded and went to work, making twelve individual little bundles. One for each floor. He handed some to Merida and took the rest, "If we put these in the north, south, east, and west corners of the house on each floor, we should be able to get rid of the poltergeist." He said before starting off for the house.

Merida smiled as she watched him go, following behind. He'd always be the one to jump right in and try to save the day. Most the time he did, other times he'd screw up. And even now, twenty years later, he was still the same old him. Except, something was different. He always seemed to have this frightened look on his face, and he seemed more exhausted than usual. She knew he had insomnia and couldn't get to sleep very easily, but he'd never looked so tired before. She wondered how many nights he spent awake, how many times he'd driven all night to get somewhere.

When the two of them went inside they saw the house completely destroyed. The furniture was cut up, the paintings were hanging crooked on the walls some fallen off, the curtains torn, and things just flung everywhere. Jack looked around and went to one of the walls. Feeling around on the wall, he picked up a broken leg of a chair, smashing it against the wall until it gave in and a good sized hole was made. The boy tossed one of the bundles inside, "Sorry bout the damage to the walls. Can you get upstairs and the south and west corners of this floor?"

Merida nodded and went to the south corner of the house on the first floor. She felt around the wall a bit and, as Jack had done, smashed a small hole in the wall with some random thing that was nearby, and tossed a bundle in, then moved on to the west corner, repeating the procedure. She went upstairs to the north corner, getting a bit of a bad feeling. She'd dealt with poltergeists before and normally while getting rid of them they weren't this quiet. As she began finishing the upstairs her mind went to Jack. She couldn't help but worry about him as she began smashing a hole in the wall of the west corner of the house on the second floor.

But just as she was about to toss the bundle inside, she heard a strange sliding noise and turned to see a desk coming right at her. She yelped and jumped out of the way just in time as the desk smashed into the wall. She sighed, "So now ye begin to act up on me..." She muttered as she reached over the desk and tossed the last bundle she had into the hole in the wall, "Alright that should do 'er. Time to meet up with Ja-" She cut off and just stood there for a moment. Soon her eyes widened and she bolted down the stairs to the basement, hearing Jack's strangled cries for help.

"Merida! Help!" Jack choked out the cry as he struggled under the weight of the wooden planks that fell on him. Normally, Jack would just brush it off and stand up, but something was weighing the planks down and crushing him. He twisted to try and see what else had fallen and spotted some metal rods and more wooden planks. _It can't be just that though, it feels like it's crushing me! I can't breath! _He thought to himself as he struggled under the weight of the materials. Then he thought of something that made him want to smack his palm to his forehead. _The poltergeist! I never set the last bundle! _"You're losing your touch Jack..." He muttered to himself as he pulled out the last bundle and reached to put it in the nearest hole he could find. Just as he was about to reach it, his neck began to burn and he fought to try and breath. He clawed at his throat, trying to release the cord that was now tightening around his neck. He hadn't even seen the cord move. He tried to call for help but the rope just got tighter. He clawed at his neck more until he began losing consciousness, just as Merida got there.

"Jack!" Merida exclaimed as she ran over to the boy. She first tried to pull the boy out from under the rubble, surprised when the materials wouldn't budge. She then tried to release the cord around Jack's neck, "Come on, come on, Jack stay awake for me ya hear?!" The weak brunette shakily pointed to the bundle he had dropped. Merida saw it and picked it up, kicking the wall until it broke open. She tossed the bundle inside and Jack gasped a the rope loosened and there wasn't so much pressure weighing down on him. Merida quickly pulled Jack out from under the rubble and pulled the rope off of his neck hugging him, "You're okay... You scared the crap outta me frostbite!"

Jack grinned and laughed weakly, "Just like old times... Same old nickname and everything..." He said as he coughed a bit. After he got his breath back he stood up, wincing from a pain in his chest, "Dammit... Stupid thing cracked my ribs..." He muttered.

Merida chuckled as she stood next to Jack, "Well that's not unusual." She said patting Jack on the back.

Jack smirked, "You know I've always wondered why I'm the one that always gets hurt."

"'S because ya jump headfirst into every situation. In short, yer reckless frostbite." She said ruffling the boy's hair, "Now c'mon. We've taken care of my problem. Let's go find Hiccup."


End file.
